Feeling their pain from having lived through the same experience, Emma desperately tries to help two homeless children find their birth father before they're separated and put into the foster care system. Meanwhile, back in the fairytale world that was, the Evil Queen coerces Hansel and Gretel into stealing an important artifact from a blind witch (Emma Caulfield, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer").[+]more

I think the stranger is pinnochio and he was not in storybrooke because jepedo or however you spell it managed to get pinnochio to also go in the wardrobe and pinnochio found emma on the side of the road and they both went to the same foster care place but pinnochio left or emma left. Just a theory though.

@Amandaaberg : "Regina opened a box and squeezed a heart.thats how he died, right? so MAYBE, that box on the motorcycle, is his heart!"

I'm just getting into this series so I'm starting to catch up and just finished this episode, and I don't think that the box refers to what you're trying to theorize. Emma tells Henry that she thought that strangers don't come to Storybrooke and Henry confirms that they don't. I believe that it is another antagonist - the box may hold something else that is pertinent to the main plot or one of the other plots. Plus, after watching the episode "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter", it can't be Graham's heart because we see the shot at the end that shows Regina with the heart in her hand that turned to dust.

@YourLoversWereLiars didnt Henrys mum (Regina) have a secret room full of boxes with hearts in it?? thats how she killed that cop who Emma fell in love with. or i dont know if she fell in love, but they were just about to kiss each other when he died. Regina opened a box and squeezed a heart.thats how he died, right? so MAYBE, that box on the motorcycle, is his heart! the guy on the motorcycle's heart. what do u think?!

My theories are the "The Stranger" is either Robin Hood or Frederick (who was mentioned by Midas, and is likely somewhat of a focus in the appropriately titled future episode) but I could be way off!

I also love the idea that he's the boy who found Emma on the side of the road, seeing as how she was just reading that article prior to his arrival. We know he's someone from the Fairy Tale land though, right? So how the heck was he not in Storybrooke when the curse was cast!? Very curious!

Yeah I was thinking dad, but I was trying to look for emma's reaction, and it seemed like she didn't recognise him at all, no objections to him staying in storybook, which I would have expected because he doesn't sound like a good person. Still, could be the dad.

Well, the last 10 minutes of this episode (which were SO GOOD) basically made up for what was probably my least favorite episode over-all so far, other than the Cinderella one - bring on NEXT WEEK! Can't wait!